Calamity Kim

mini quilt monday bench quilt

mini quilt monday bench quilt, originally uploaded by calamity kim.

I put this together today for mini quilt monday but I had so much fun with it I am considering doing another bench quilt each Monday and putting them all together eventually to make a nice picnic quilt.
I used some vintage tablecloth linen that is so nicely textured and has a bit of old gold that picks up the gold in the fern.
No pattern, just rotary cut and sewn.
Talk about fun and liberated!
Happy Mini Quilt Monday!
xo, calamity kim

mini quilt monday inspired by bench monday

Its amazing to go from
camera to computer,
to printer,
to fabric,
to sewing machine, to mini quilt monday using bench monday as the theme.
I haven't finished it yet.
 Just pinned it to a treasured quilt I bought from Goodwill (that was also the backdrop for the bench monday photo).

I need to start these things earlier or maybe a day ahead because it's 8:30pm and dinner isn't made and it doesn't look like this will get finished.
Or we don't eat. Pick one.
Just too much fun to stop.
I am considering prairie points and maybe making this into a large quilted tote bag. We shall see what tomorrow brings.
love & stitches,
calamity kim

Iris Growing in an Octopus's Garden By The Sea or Darling Mermaid Darling Swim the Tango

Yesterday I started my quilt for the Mini Quilt Monday Group over at Flickr but didn't finish it until just now.
I took pictures as I put it together so that I could share some sewing fun here with you.

First I chose a botanical illustration from Dover's Flower book that comes with a cd-rom that was 50% off at the Barnes & Noble I recently visited in Pittsburgh.
After printing it (with my HP Photosmart 8250 Inkjet Printer) on to June Taylor Colorfast Fabric (available at Walmart and JoAnn's) sheets I sliced it up with a few swipes of my rotary cutter.
Then I tried it out on gold but decided to go with the Essex Putty instead.

That was an elegant color to bring out the purple and delicate greens of the iris.

After sewing the putty to the print I used the ruler and rotary cutter to even the sides and then added the gold in a log cabin frame around it.

After auditioning a few purples for the next set I picked a batik and sewed that.

Now, this looks ok but it's rather dull and I was thinking about gardens and what might be in them when suddenly a frog lept up on the table and said- "hey! What about me? I want to have some fun!"

I explained to him that he can't be on everything I make and gently grabbed him by one leg and took him back outside where he belonged.

After thinking it over (and making deviled eggs and tuna salad for dinner later) I went back to my bookcase and grabbed the Dover Insects book and printed out a bee and stitched it down after layering the cotton/wool batting and backing fabrics together with the top.

Now all this time the stack of Heather Ross fabric is just sitting there whispering to me and I just couldn't help but grab a small piece of the Mendicino Mermaids in gold and try it out.
Daydreaming about darling mermaid darlings and the honey bees and an octopuses garden by the sea and missing Pushing Daisies and hoping Ned and Chuck are happy and missing Emerson Cod and promising to quit writing run on sentences I decided it would work.

To make a little window I grab a square of fabric measuring 7x7 and trace around a cd then stitch it down on the top of the quilt where I want the window to be.

I have shown this tecnique before but if I don't explain it someoine will ask, so please bear with me if you remember me doing this on other quilts.
Usually I do this before I layer it and quilt it but I can cover the back circle with the label so it's ok.

Grab scissors and cut the inside circle out, trimming it very close to the stitching.

Pull the outer edge of fabric to the inside of the circle and iron on the back pulling it so that seam is in center along the inner edge.
I cut out the mermaids and a circle of cotton/wool batting slightly larger than opening.

I machine stitched it around the edge.

The back gets trimmed and covered with a round label.

I tried out several choices for binding...
Green was ok

I finally went with the Martha Negley fern print because of the sea green and pattern.

The finished size is 19" x 15.5".
It's not as busy as my usual stuff- what do you think? Do you like it?
Is it dull?
Does it need anything else?
hmmm.
I'm going for a bike ride,
let me know what ya think.

You can enjoy this sung so sweetly by Olive Snook until I get back:

happy heatwave,

Oh, but there is a breeze!

calamity kim

Mini Quilt Monday, week 3

week one week two week three See what happens when I join a group like Mini Quilt Monday?
I force myself to create something and get it done.Yesterday I got off to a rough start, due to spending time making a frog for the little neighbor girl.
She drew the face and body (with heart) and I drew the legs and did the rest. It took me an hour.
 It was fun but I really wanted to make a mini quilt and use a pattern from the Moda Bakeshop. I have a small round table in the living room that we use as a coffee table and have been wanting to make (a sort of) place mat for it.
After printing the pattern on to some Carol Doak paper piecing paper I began making the dresden quarters using my scraps.
That was fun and I really enjoy the precision of paper piecing. I use this little  add a quarter seam ruler to trim and that really helps make it easy.
The quilt recipe calls for appliqueing the center- well, actually, I didn't use the pattern for what it was supposed to be at all (theirs looks like a piece of candy when 4 are put together) because I only wanted a round circle to fit the table and this worked perfectly.
For the center I put a cream colored fabric over the hole and sewed around with a 1'4" seam, cut out the center opening and flipped it around so that I had a clean edged opening and then pinned the owl fabric to the bottom and stitched around it. I have shown this technique here several times and I like it instead of applique sometimes.
 Its like creating a window in the center.
The most difficult decision for me, is always how to quilt it.
Should I do it by machine?
 By hand?
What design?
What color thread- or perle cotton?
After a brief discussion with my "go to guy" he said- quilt it by hand with vines.
I said: "dude! excellent!" and was off like a surf rat after a radical big one- the adrenalin flowing with the juice of creation, and a smile on my face, I watched some on demand (CSI, NCIS and Medium) while the needle added green perle cotton to the round quilt until it said it was done. Then I added rick rack around the edge before I sewed on some vintage aqua bias.
As I placed it on the small table and carried it in to show  "Mr Go To Guy" I said now, don't spill your coffee on this!
 To which he replied: " me? , you mean you- don't cha?"
yep, that would be me, calamity kim, spilling the coffee all over this adorable round mini quilt...he never spills anything- it's always me!
I'll be more careful now, I think.
Maybe I should make a plastic cover for it?
 Maybe I should just hang it on the wall and use a paper towel like I was before?
Oh, the joy of being a klutz!
One more thing to worry about.
I have to learn to let it go- I haven't even spilled the coffee yet! Maybe I should make a place mat that has coffee stains as the design and that would be funny and functional. Too droll?
OK, enjoy the quilt, even if it's a day late and will some day be stained with calamity coffee.
love & stitches,
kim

ps,

check this out

The Rose Queen makes an appearance on Mini Quilt Monday

The Rose Queen, originally uploaded by calamity kim.

It almost slipped my mind that it was Mini Quilt Monday but I remembered in time to get started and finished with a little beauty featuring a vintage illustration of a Anthropomorphic Rose Queen printed on cotton and then patchworked and hand and machine stitched with batting and bound in my raw edge style.

can you say run on sentence?

I used up some leftovers from other quilts and enjoyed the slap dash excitement of instant grat-if-i-quilt-ation!
It has been overcast and gloomy and I enjoyed the almost forgotten rain and growl of thunder as I sewed this up (in about 4 hours).
After this past weekend which was filled to the brim with spinning, beading, knitting and crocheting- and lots of great food & conversation, I am just about ready to call it a day!

wheni'mtiredeverythingjustrunstogether.....
Worn out is what I am....but I'll be rested up ( soon) and ready to get with the flower power this week!

happy mini quilt monday!
xo,
calamity kim

Mini Quilt Monday- look who's early for once!

Last Friday a couple of my friends came over and we sat out back by the lake and painted fabric.
I had set up some tables and covered them with plastic and we didn't have to worry about any spills or paint drips getting on the grass.
 It was a beautiful day and we had a nice breeze coming in from across the lake. Today I played around with one of the pieces of fabric I had painted.
First I sanded it lightly with super fine sandpaper until it was smooth and looked like leather.
 Then I covered it with a plain piece of scrap muslin and ironed it on both sides. Then after layering it with batting and a backing fabric I began to machine quilt it.
The wind was still blowing as I tried to take pictures.
I enjoyed the experimental aspect of this- I have never painted a quilt before- only dolls and I do love the way the acrylic paint behaves after it's sanded- it sews so easily and the pressure foot just glides over it!
I wanted to be ready for Mini Quilt Monday- a new Flickr Group I just joined that is hostessed by the very talented Malka Dubrawsky of A Stitch In Dye Blog, so I spent a few hours before we went to see Star Trek (which was awesome!) and am ready to consider how to bind this up and be done with it!
That's the back which I think is as interesting as the front.
 I like the simplicity.
It measures 20 1/2 x 15".
Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Mom's Day- tomorrow it's back to doing the dishes and laundry and grocery shopping and all the drudgery....
and a little bit of time for sewing, crocheting or playing if we're lucky- right?
xo,
love and stitches,
calamity kim